The Golden Falcon

by David C. Clark

  The meeting was to commemorate the transfer of additional funding from the Society. After formal speeches of welcome my father stood, amidst warm applause.

  “May the peace of God be with you. Gentlemen, today I wish to officially announce the Society donates the further sum of $30 million to the Council of Egyptian Antiquities. The gift is given on the understanding its employment is at the sole discretion of the Board of Governors.” His announcement was greeted with enthusiastic applause. After some comment about future collaborative efforts, he concluded.

  “Let me finish with a personal remark. I have spent my life devoted to your country’s great heritage and it gratifies me to see so many Egyptians becoming specialists in the disciplines supporting the field of archaeology. It is also a matter of considerable pride that my son, Dennis, has found happiness in marriage to a fine young Egyptian woman who is herself a product of advanced education. Now, I suggest we adjourn for lunch and continue this meeting over some fine food.”

  I joined in congratulating him. “Not bad, Dad, not bad at all. $30 million dollars will go a long way in Egypt.” “Well, it will keep you busy for a few more years and, if I am lucky, I may be able to raise even more once the money men see the results of the first projects.” He raised his voice slightly. “Gentlemen, shall we leave? I am in desperate need of some grilled Nile Perch.”

  Lunch developed into a vast affair. At my father’s invitation, we were joined by many of the CEA senior staff. I was on the point of speaking to Dr. Hussein when there was a drop in the level of conversation as President Kamal arrived unannounced. The restaurant’s patrons rose and applauded the man who was moving their country forward with such determination. He walked amongst the guests, shaking hands and nodding to various acquaintances, finally asking if he might join my father and Professor Dief at their table. This was a great honour, one not missed by my father who would, no doubt, use it to benefit his fund raising efforts. I sat down, flanked by Omar Hussein and Yousef al-Badawi. Our conversation revolved around the scope of possible new projects until I asked Omar how the DNA analysis was going.

  “We have some very useful results and the programme is developing better than we hoped. Of course, there are still many parts missing from the jigsaw puzzle of bloodlines and Professor Schadlich has asked us to submit additional samples from the wider base of bodies. The analysis have left us with a few unidentified bodies but there is an irrefutable genealogical chart being built up for the New Kingdom royal families. There are years of research ahead for my laboratory and the French Institute but I am sure we will clear up a few mysteries.”

  Stopping to finish his dessert, he went on. “We have, how do you English say, ‘A fly in the ointment’. You know we received negative results from first samples from Ramesses II? New material was sent to Paris and tested. It is not yet widely known but the body bears no relationship to Seti or his son, Merenptah. Professor Schadlich advises the tests are conclusive, so we know the much admired body of Ramesses II is not of the king who bears his name.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Al -Badawi answered “Precisely nothing. As Omar said, it is years before all the tests are concluded and the genealogical tables published. At the moment, very few know about this problem. The employees of the French Institute are all under a high degree of confidentiality and we intend not to publicise the matter. It is a bit of shock to think one of the Museum’s prize exhibits is not who we claim it to be but can I promise you, the mummy will not tell anyone about his true identity.” We laughed at the grim humour.

  “Am I at liberty to discuss this with Jean-Claude d’Argent?”

  “He has been informed and did not seem to be too concerned as it does not affect his work in the king’s tomb. I believe the recent progress Jean-Claude has made is quite amazing, Dennis? Can you bring me up to date, please?” I discussed his most recent achievements, mentioning his request that Richard and I visit the tomb when I got back to Luxor as he had found what he thought was an anomaly.

  “An anomaly in Ancient Egypt. Now that would be something unusual.” quipped Yousef. “We have a famous royal body with the wrong name. Now that is an anomaly.”

  My father remained in Cairo, arranging details about the donation before he and my mother flew down to Luxor to holiday with us. During the visit, we discussed future works as he was keen to start restoration in the Valley of the Queens, once we had mastered the first project’s objectives.

  “What I have in mind is the same approach taken by Jean-Claude in KV7, teams of specialists working together on a specific project. Look at the problems in Seti’s tomb. What better approach than to shut it down, bring in every specialist required to sort out all the problems and then re-open it, secure in the knowledge it won’t have to be touched for decades or even centuries. The same process should apply to KV38.”

  “There would be some problems in getting the work sequence right as the excavation of flood debris is a painstaking business as is the re-attachment of flaking plaster. Our civil engineering techniques, by comparison, have all the subtlety of a bull in a china shop.”

  “I know that. However, the money we have just injected should make a big difference. Rather than having to wait until a university finds sufficient funds to undertake a project, the money is now on the table. With some good negotiation and a little more collegiate co-operation, the CEA can bring together the best team available with the dollars to underwrite a project. However, we all have time to consider these implications. Now the important issue. When are you and Tamaam going to have a baby? Your mother is driving me mad with this question. I didn’t realise how clucky she could be until you re-married.”

  We survived the visit by my parents and saw them safely off on a trip down to Aswan, where they would stay a few weeks. Just after they left, Jean-Claude wandered over to our site office, wanting to find out when Richard and I could have a look at the anomaly in the Ramesses tomb.

  “What could you have found that warrants Richard and I having a look? Your own civil engineers can diagnose any problem and find a solution, unless you have found some English artillery sitting on a Napoleonic sabre?” I said.

  “Perfidious Englishman. If it was Napoleonic, it would be a French sabre sitting on English cannon. Seriously, Mon ami, we have no idea what it is and your opinion would be useful.” I rang Richard, who was over at KV47 and asked him to come to the office. Once he joined us, we walked over to Ramesses’s tomb.

  “We have spent over six years working on this tomb and I intentionally ignored the well shaft. When I first inspected the tomb, I climbed down into the shaft, which was partially filled with debris, had a look and thought there was much more immediate and interesting work in just about every part of the structure, so we planked it over. A few months, ago I decided to excavate the shaft. It was a slow business and I did not expect to find anything of interest in the debris. The entrance is nowhere near any other tomb, so the chance of objects having washed into it was minimal. However, we dug down to floor level and completely cleared the well, finding nothing other than badly damaged images from the Book of the Heavenly Cow. I was on the point of re-laying the covering planks after I made a final inspection but, before I say anything else, I want you both to have a look at the shaft.”

  We descended into the tomb and climbed down the shaft, carrying powerful torches. Jean-Claude said. “Have a look about you.” “What are we looking for?” asked Richard. “Just have a close look and tell me what you see apart from the remnants of decorations.” We poked around, noticed the corners were bevelled,which was unusual, saw the floor and lower edges of the walls had been painted black and noted the remains of a damaged frieze of some river scenery at the level just below the corridor floor. Richard said he saw nothing unusual when I noticed something in the periphery of my torch light. Swinging the beam directly into a corner, I saw that the top edge of the black painted border on one wall was slightly lower than the other three walls. “Is this what you mea
n?” pointing at the corner.

  “Yes, it is the first clue. Normally, painting a border would not have been a challenging task for a tomb decorator so the top of the border should be at the same level. Look a little closer at the bottom of the wall.” He indicated the one with the dropped margin. I got down on my knees and shone the torch beam at the wall’s edge. He and Richard joined me. The bevel on the lower edge was also slightly below the corresponding edges on the other three wall faces. We bent down, faces almost to the floor and peered at the lower edge.

  “There is a crack running right along the edge.” said Richard, moving his torch up the wall. “The crack goes right up both walls and,” rising to ascend the ladder, “up to the corridor floor level and it goes across the full width of the wall. There is some evidence of chipping on the edges but I see all the bevelled edges have some damage.”

  “Bravo. I had my men vacuum clean right around the edges of all four walls and only this one appears to be cracked. Now, what does it mean? That is why I have asked you to have a look. None of my engineers have any idea other than suggesting there is a possible fault line involved and some seismic event in the last three thousand years has caused this section of the shaft to crack.”

  “Possible but unlikely. Movement can cause this type of cracking though it would be highly unusual to produce such a regular crack and there should be some evidence of shattering on the face. Do you have a rubber mallet and stethoscopes?” I said.

  “A minute.” He climbed up the ladder and came back with a mallet and three stethoscopes. “Please take care of the medical equipment otherwise our doctor will have a panic attack if it is damaged.”

  “Put the stethoscopes on, place the platens on the wall and listen.” I went around the three solid walls banging the mallet against their surface. Then I hit the cracked wall dead in the centre. The sound was more resonant. I kept hitting the wall around its perimeter and up and down its length. My ears detected a reverberation.

  “Opinions, gentlemen?” Richard was the first to comment. “It sounds hollow but that’s not possible, is it? Rock fracture can distort sound in a variety of ways but the resonance from this wall does not sound like anything I have heard before. Jean-Claude?”

  “I have no experience in the resonance of solid rock so I cannot help you. It sounds different but other than that, I have no opinion.”

  “We should go outside and have a bit of a think about this.” I said. We ascended the corridors and emerged into the sunlight. “Let’s have a close look at this hill.” We walked around the hill and climbed up to its summit but saw nothing to indicate a subsidence or rock fracture but this was not unusual. Faults were mostly underground, although some parts of the Valley showed pronounced evidence of the underlying main fault. This is more than obvious above the tomb of Ramesses III, where there was a significant rock joint. We returned to the valley floor.

  “I would like your permission to conduct a test which will involve drilling some holes in the four faces. I propose we use a 20mm masonry bit at least one metre long and I will need to make at least twelve holes. They will be obvious but not destructive.”

  Jean-Claude said he saw no problem as there were already many holes drilled into the rock within the tomb, so a few more would not hurt. He called his foreman over and asked him to find the equipment and bring it down into the shaft. Richard set up the drill and I instructed him to bore a hole into each of the solid walls about one metre up from the floor and towards the middle. This took about half an hour and all we got was powdered limestone and the bit had not faltered as it bored into the rock. He applied the tool to the fourth wall and was exerting pressure when, suddenly, he fell forward against the wall, the drill chuck gouging its surface.

  “What the hell?” I told him to bore another hole but this time upwards at an angle of 45 degrees and to watch the depth of the bit. He set to work and drove slowly upwards until he ran out of resistance again. When he pulled the bit out, a steady trickle of clean, dry yellow sand followed.

  “Now, where does the sand come from?” asked Jean-Claude, as it began to make a small but growing mound on the floor. “I think you had better plug the hole, Richard.” He pulled out his handkerchief and stuffed it into the hole. Jean-Claude and I picked up a handful of the sand, examining it. “This is not from the Valley. It’s desert sand, find grained and sharp edged. What is it doing coming out of a solid limestone wall?” “Richard, please unplug the hole.” Sand fell from the small hole until we had a fairly large pile on the floor. I stopped the flow with the cloth and said we should go topside again.

  “Okay, let’s get this sand analysed in Cairo, although I am sure it came from the western desert. We need Dief and al-Badawi down here as soon as possible and a team of seismologists as well. Jean-Claude, your thoughts, please? The tomb is your project.”

  “Dennis, at the moment I have little idea what you have found. I will ring the CEA in the next few minutes and I know there are seismologists at a French oil drilling site in the Sudan. What do I tell them?”

  “First, we need to determine the extent of the hollow in the wall and whether or not there is some type of fault in the limestone structure around or above the shaft. We don’t want the hill collapsing into KV7 by disturbing the strata surrounding it. I have a suspicion about what we have just seen based on something my father told me about some tombs discovered buried under thousands of tonnes of sand. We will also need equipment we can feed into the holes we have drilled - you know the type of gear,a flexible shaft with a camera on the end. Until we run some tests on the wall and what may be behind it, I do not think we should let any more sand run out of the hole.”

  We agreed on the procedure. Richard knew of a company in Cairo that sold technical camera equipment. I rang my father, who promised to get up to Luxor as soon as we were ready to proceed with the seismic tests. Professor Dief called back and asked me what I thought we had found. I told him of my suspicions which prompted him say he would book a ticket on a flight to Luxor with the French team. Now we had to wait for the various specialists to arrive before anything else could happen.

  The seismological team arrived a week later. Jean-Claude introduced me to the team leader, Henri Colbert, who asked me where I had learnt about rubber hammers and stethoscopes. I told him I once dated a medical student who practiced auscultation, or percussion, on my body. He laughed and said that they could perhaps do something a little more sophisticated but he was impressed with the effectiveness of such a simple procedure. Henri told us the more scientific approach was based on the same principle as sonar. Sound waves pulsed out of a transmitter and then bounced back to a receiver where they were analysed by a computer programme. Different geological formations gave off different readings and anomalies such as voids could sometimes be identified, although he admitted results could be erratic and not necessarily produce a true picture of a rock formation.

  “If it did, we would all be rich as we could find oil domes the first time we send the sonar waves into the ground. Alas, it is still a hit and miss business. Ces’t bon, time we began to work. First, we will survey the hills in the immediate area and have a look at the local geology. I have already called on an ami at the School of Geology in Cairo and he will be down tomorrow with data on rock formations in this part of Egypt. I also need plans of the tomb from as many perspectives as you have. Now, please show me this wall. We can run some immediate tests using our equipment before we try ground penetrating radar. But first, Jean-Claude, a delicate matter. Perhaps you can advise me on some of the delights of Luxor as my men will work better after a little relaxation. The Sudan is not noted for the quality of its night life and we can only stay a week.” This started a voluble discussion between the Frenchmen and I left them to their, no doubt, informative discussion. Henri saw me leaving and said I should be at the tomb early the next morning as they would start on the shaft walls then.

  The morning delivered unto me a gathering of seismologists and a geol
ogist together with Abdullah and Yousef. I called them to attention and suggested we move into the tomb as unobtrusively as possible, saying it was imperative we did not make ourselves obvious or create a furore over what might be nothing. I suggested, until we found something of interest, we maintain strict secrecy about our activities. The geologist from Cairo pored over stratification maps with the seismologists and Henri delegated two of his men to climb down into the shaft with some more sophisticated equipment. They were soon at work sending pulses through all four walls and talking to each other too fast for me to understand much of what they said as they read the computer print-outs. My parents arrived mid-afternoon and I confided my suspicions to my father, who decided a little patience was warranted so they went off with Tamaam to look at Siptah’s tomb.

  We decided to meet after dinner in a conference room in Luxor’s Grand Hotel to discuss the first sounding of the walls and our plan of attack. During dinner with my parents and Tamaam, I refused to speculate further on my suspicions until we all met as arranged. Just after 8pm, we adjourned to the conference room, where Henri had set up a screen behind the lectern. Jean-Claude asked Henri to begin.

  “Claude and Thierry, two of my technicians, spent the day sounding the walls.” He explained the process and how the readings were interpreted by the computer. “The results are interesting although we almost missed a very small reading. Behind two of the walls the soundings showed a considerable amount of disruption caused by normal fractures within the limestone matrix. This is typical of geological readings in this type of rock formation. However, they indicate the rock is basically solid for as far as our equipment can penetrate. From the wall facing the burial chambers, which are lower than the bottom of the well shaft, we saw results confirming the location and structure of voids created by the excavation as we had fed the layout and dimensions of the entire tomb into the diagnostic computer program. Our thanks to Jean-Claude and his team for the precise plans of the tomb’s structure they have produced.”